UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay make list of top LGBTQ-friendly schools

Campus Pride announced the 25 colleges and universities leading the way for LGBTQ inclusion in policies, programs and practices across the United States.

The list includes University of Wisconsin–Green Bay and University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Campus Pride provides educational resource for students and families to find the best campuses for LGBTQ inclusion and safety. The organization work alongside students, faculty, staff and administrators at more than 1,400 campuses annually to help support and improve the quality of campus life for LGBTQ people. 

Campus Pride chose the 25 campuses this year based on their overall ratings on the Campus Pride Index and specific LGBTQ-inclusive benchmark measures.  

“It is both exciting and promising to see the diversity and growth of the number of campuses participating in the Campus Pride Index. Particularly, we see institutions thoughtfully considering the inclusion of queer spectrum and trans spectrum policies and programs,” said Dr. Sue Rankin, the volunteer director of Campus Pride’s Q Research Institute for Higher Education. “In the current political climate, where executive orders by the president of the United States are rescinding decades of progressive work, this work on college campuses is more important than ever.”

In order to be in the top 25 listing, an institution had to score the highest percentages in the LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks for policies, programs and practices. The listing includes colleges from 16 states. The campuses represent a range of academic studies with student populations from 807 to over 45,000, public and private schools alike. 

The others schools on the top 25 list, in alphabetical order, are:

Augsburg University – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Elon University – Elon, North Carolina

Harvey Mudd College – Claremont, California

Indiana University Bloomington – Bloomington, Indiana

Ithaca College – Ithaca, New York

Kansas State University – Manhattan, Kansas

Macalester College – Saint Paul, Minnesota

Montclair State University – Montclair, New Jersey

The Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio

The Pennsylvania State University – University Park, Pennsylvania

Portland State University – Portland, Oregon

Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick – New Brunswick, New Jersey

San Diego State University – San Diego, California

Southern Oregon University – Ashland, Oregon

Tufts University – Medford, Massachusetts

University of Colorado at Boulder – Boulder, Colorado

University of Louisville – Louisville, Kentucky

University of Massachusetts Amherst – Amherst, Massachusetts

University of Oregon – Eugene, Oregon

University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

University of Washington – Seattle, Washington

Washington State University – Pullman, Washington

“If you are looking for the most trusted, reliable list of LGBTQ-friendly colleges, then you have found the right one. LGBTQ youth and families today want to know what campuses are doing when it comes to inclusive policies, programs and practices. This 'best of the 'best' list highlights the top 25,’” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride and creator of the Campus Pride Index. “These are the campuses leading the way for LGBTQ inclusion and who have come out to support LGBTQ students from the first day of classes through graduation day.”

According to Campus Pride, the list this year shows more LGBTQ progress than ever, even in more rural conservative places.  Dr. Genny Beemyn, the coordinator of Campus Pride’s Trans Policy Clearinghouse, said: “It is especially important to see colleges from Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina among the Top 25. If these colleges can become supportive oases in largely anti-LGBTQ states, then other institutions in very conservative states have no excuse not to do likewise.”

View full list online at CampusPride.org/Top25